This specification relates to computer aided design and manufacture of disc brakes for vehicles, and in particular to using three dimensional (3D) modeling and simulation programs and additive manufacturing to design and manufacture rotors for disc brake systems and apparatus.
Disc brakes are designed for structural support but also so as to cool down quickly since the disc brake heats up rapidly during braking. Many disc brake failures are not due to structural failure but due to thermal failure caused by the high temperatures. This can especially be true for the disc brakes used on racing and sports cars. In order to increase the rate of cooling, a traditional rotor includes an inboard disc and an outboard disc, which are connected by vanes so as to form grooves between the two discs, where air can travel through these grooves to improve cooling of the disc brake rotor. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,083,435 describes a brake disc with improved ventilation cooling generated using radially running channels located in the interior of the brake ring. In addition, more recently and in the context of heavy-duty vehicles, U.S. Pat. No. 9,506,515 describes a disc brake rotor that uses pins between the inboard and outboard discs of the rotor so as to increase the air flow between the discs.